About The Cantu Foundation

In 2020, The Cantu Foundation emerged from the shared passion of its co-founders, Fatima and Jenna. Despite residing on opposite coasts, these two kindred spirits connected through social media, driven by their mutual desire to make a positive impact on the lives of dogs in need.

Our foundation derives its name and inspiration from Cantu, an extraordinary rescue pittie who embodied the spirit of resilience. Cantu's unwavering determination to live his best life, despite facing challenges, serves as the cornerstone of our mission.

At The Cantu Foundation, our primary goal is to offer a second chance at life to dogs from Baja California and Southern California. We believe that every dog deserves a loving home and an opportunity for a brighter future.

Our approach is simple yet impactful. We operate as a fully foster-based rescue organization, sustained by the generosity of donations and the unwavering dedication of our foster families. When a dog enters our care, they receive not only shelter but also the love, attention, and rehabilitation necessary to thrive.

Our vision for the future is ambitious but heartfelt. We aspire to establish our very own facility in San Diego, a central hub for our rescue operations. With this facility, we aim to streamline the process of saving dogs and expand our reach, ensuring more dogs find their forever homes.

Check out Cantu’s second The Dodo video!

Meet Our Team

Fatima Guevara
Founder

Born and raised in Lima, Peru, Fatima has always felt a strong affinity towards animals. After moving to Boston, MA at the age of 9, she found herself always looking for ways to get involved with helping animals. As she grew older, she began volunteering in shelters in the Boston area and even took a few mission trips abroad to assist in spay and neuter programs and to help educate those communities on the importance of spaying and neutering.

She has since adopted 3 dogs of her own. One in particular - Cantu - is a special needs pup who completely changed her perspective on rescue dogs and the value they bring to the world. Cantu gained a significant following on social media in a very short timespan. It has been through his platform that they have garnered enough support to bring The Cantu Foundation to fruition.

Fatima has always had plans of starting her own non-profit, but didn’t see that happening for many years. After stepping in to help a couple of dogs earlier this year, she realized the time was now. She hopes to continue growing the The Cantu Foundation to save as many dogs as possible.

Jenna Finch
Director of Operations

Jenna is born and raised in San Diego, California and grew up in a household full of animals. With a mom who was always taking of stray dogs and cats, rescue came very naturally to her. In college, she worked as a volunteer director at a local, no-kill shelter in Santa Barbara and post-college, she volunteered in South Africa working with lions, tigers, hyenas and a variety of other wild animals. It was through these experiences that her love of animals grew even deeper.

Growing up, her father owned a beach house in Rosarito, Mexico, where she and her sister spent a lot of time. She remembers begging her father to let them take in the countless homeless dogs they would encounter. She has seen firsthand how dire the situation is in Mexico regarding the homeless dog population; how deeply neglected, unloved and abused many of these street dogs are. It is because of this that our cause resonates so deeply with her.

Approximately 2 years ago, she became involved with an organization called The Animal Pad (TAP) and it was through TAP that she found Cantù’s Instagram and connected with Fatima. She rescued her first dog almost 5 years ago, who is a big, block-headed pittie. Her love for her own dog is also why she fiercely advocates for this very misunderstood breed.

Sara Tumbas
Events Co-Director

Sara was born and raised in Northwest Indiana. Her family has always had at least 4 dogs in the household at a time, so she grew up loving animals from a very young age. When she moved to San Diego, her and her husband adopted their first dog, Hobo. Hobo came from a hoarding situation; gaining his trust and seeing him grow into a happy, healthy dog was the most rewarding thing she had taken on up until that point.

She wanted to do more and after hearing of Richie’s story and his passing, she knew the time was now. She loved the Cantu Foundation’s genuine care and knew it was the right place to start. Since joining the team, she has adopted Cirilo, now Bumi, from the TCF family. He has megaesophagus and beat all odds by surviving with the horrible disease on the streets for 4 years. He now proudly eats in his own high chair.

Every dog deserves a chance, and Sara hopes to help give more dogs of all needs and capabilities that opportunity.

Sara Rodriguez
Events Co-Director

Sara was raised in San Diego, CA. She never had a pet until Santa brought her kids Rosco, a 3-month old Chihuahua Dachshund. Rosco crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2022 at almost 17 years old.

At almost the end of 2020, her youngest daughter asked if they could foster. She was a senior in high school. Sara’s initial response was no but then reconsidered. It was something her daughter could do during the lockdown (& Sara WFH).

The thought was that once her daughter went off to college, the fostering would stop. Well, her daughter went off to college but Sara continued. Fostering saves lives. It’s been one of the most fulfilling experiences. Yes, it takes work, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Cara Daniels
Adoptions Co-Director

Growing up in the Midwest, Cara begged for a dog every single Christmas and birthday despite her family’s allergies. Volunteering at her local humane society throughout high school helped fill the void and also introduced her to the world of rescue.

Now as an adult living in Austin, Texas, Cara is a passionate and consistent foster
for Austin’s struggling no-kill shelter system. She loves volunteering at the city shelter as a dog walker and adoption advocate. She came across The Cantu Foundation on Instagram during the pandemic and applied to volunteer on the Adoptions Team, eventually becoming our Adoptions Director.

Cara finally adopted a dog of her own 3 years ago. Her rescue pup, Ozzy loves the revolving door of fosters he gets to play with and learn from. Cara’s dream is to create a sanctuary space to foster more dogs in need and help them along in their journey

Courtney Giles
Adoptions Co-Director

Born and raised in San Diego, California, Courtney has always been surrounded by animals. Her Dad was an animal lover, and he passed that on to her. She grew up with dogs, cats, chameleons, tortoises, and chinchillas! Courtney is a mother of two and has continued passing on the love of animals to her two daughters MaKenna and Jolie. Her family has their own self described “zoo,” with two cats, one bunny, two geckos, and three sulcata tortoises.

In 2019, she lost her beloved pup Max, a 12-year-old cattle dog that she and her husband Ben adopted from the San Diego Humane Society when he was 1 ½ years old. Max was her first baby, her best buddy and her ever-present “shadow.” This heartbreaking loss led her to The Cantu Foundation. After Courtney and Ben adopted Max, they found out that he was deaf. Although it was a challenge at first, Max learned hand signals and always stayed within eye distance, no matter where we went. Losing Max led Courtney on a search to help other pups in need, that just needed a chance to be loved. During Thanksgiving 2020, Courtney’s sister sent her an Instagram post about a pup named Pearl who was looking for a foster home. Although she didn’t end up fostering Pearl, she did welcome her first foster DeeDee (now named Dolly) into her home in December 2020. Since then, Courtney and her family have fostered many beautiful pups. Courtney also joined the Adoptions Team and helps match our pups with their forever homes.

Emily Kay
Foster Director

Emily has been a volunteer with TCF since November 2020. She was raised with dogs her whole life and was brought up to believe that dogs are family. She herself has adopted and raised 4 rescue dogs, all mixed in breed, personality and challenges. She has also worked at 2 different kennels part time while completing grad school to be a social worker. She always wished she could be a social worker for dogs and working with TCF allows her to do just that!

Emily finds that helping animals find homes that otherwise wouldn’t have a chance in life is one of the most personally satisfying things she has ever done. Even though she lives on the other side of the country on the East Coast, she feels personally connected to each foster dog she is able to help.

Brianna Velazco Volunteer Director

Brianna began volunteering with TCF in June 2020 transporting pups from Mexico to their foster homes. With the pandemic & passing of her dog, Brianna felt she needed something to uplift her spirits and thanks to social media, came across our rescue.

As of today, she and her mom are actively transporting on the weekends along with fostering and attending local adoption events. On her free time, Brianna likes to spend time with her senior dogs, Benny and Xola, and taking care of the feral community cats.

Alex Herzing
Writing Team Director

Alex grew up in Upstate New York and Central Virginia and now lives on the West Coast of Florida. He spent his entire childhood with Doberman Pinschers in the house and when he and his wife moved to Florida they decided to rescue their first Pitbull.

Since adopting his Pitbull, Penny, Alex and his wife have thrown themselves into the dog rescue community. They have hundreds of volunteer hours logged at local shelters and have helped foster dogs for various rescues in their communities.

Alex is the head of The Cantu Foundation writing committee and coordinates our bio writers to make sure all dogs ready for adoption have a thoughtful and timely bio for our website so that the pups find their forever families as quickly as possible.